Battlefield of Roses
by Ballofsalt
Summary: Lucia-Rose is a great warrior, but she is also the dragonborn, and when she stumbles upon the companions she has yet another battle to deal with, love. She's never been one for emotions but upon meeting a curious set of twins that all changes. Not only are more doors open to her now she was capable of emotions but it will make defeating Alduin that much harder.
**A/N so I decided that I was going to re write this entire story, make it better and more put together so this is the rewrite of the first chapter I hope you enjoy it ^.^**

Lucia-Rose came to on a carriage with a few other people. There was a pain in her head that she just couldn't shake and she had completely forgotten how she came to be there. Around the carriage she noticed a few men, bound in stormcloak colours. She rolled her eyes. The civil war that raged throughout Skyrim was something she cared very little for. It wasn't so much the act of rebellion against the Empire that annoyed her. It was more the leader of the rebellion she didn't like. Ulfric Stormcloak was a loathsome man whose ideals were so bigoted it made her want to be sick. The whole Skyrim should only be for nords mentality was just plain wrong. While she was mulling these thoughts over she looked to her right and saw him, bound and gagged. At first it was pleasing sight, however if the Jarl was in her carriage then wherever they were going couldn't be good.

Lucia tried to tune out the brooding dialogue of the other prisoners and focused her mind on the memory of her family. She'd lived in Ivarstead with her family till she was sixteen. Her childhood was fairly normal. Her father was a nord warrior who trained her sword arm from a very young age. Fighting came almost as naturally to her as breathing. The fact that she knew how to fight meant that her mother would allow her to go hunting alone in the woods around the village after her twelfth winter. She used that time to explore as much of the forest as she could without risking her safety too much. When she was to bring home a few rabbits for dinner her mother's smile was something that she would never forget. Her mother was a Breton and a talented healer. Not as gifted as the priestesses of Kynareth but she was good enough to help the people of the village. Lucia recalled the day when she got into a fight with some of the other children and one of them had broken her nose. When she came home to her mother she fixed it for her without hesitation, and it was then when Lucia would not stop pestering her to teach her restoration magic. As she got older it came in handy after battles. Whenever she healed a cut or wound on herself she always thought of her mother, without fail.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't even realise that the carriage had stopped. It was only when the blonde stormcloak gave her a nudge that she broke her train of thought to march to her death. They were forced into a line and one by one names were called off the Empires list.

'Ulfric Stormcloak.' The soldier said with pride in his voice. He stepped forward and the imperials ushered him into another line.

'Ralof of Riverwood.' Said the same soldier and Lucia-Rose's heart started to quicken at how close it was to her turn.

'Lokir of Rorikstead'

'No I'm not a rebel you can't do this!' He yelled as he tried to flee. He didn't get very far though because the commander signaled and three arrows flew through the air and into his back within seconds. Lucia could feel her stomach in her throat. This was real. She was about to die; she would never get to do all the things she set out to do. She wasn't even supposed to be there.

'Who are you?' the soldier with the list asked.

It took her a minute to reply due to the sheer fear of the axeman standing less than five feet away. 'Lucia-Rose.' Was all she could muster.

The soldier scanned the list and looked nervously at his superior. 'What do we do captain she's not on the list?'

'Forget the list she goes to the block.' The commander scoffed waving the list out of her face. The soldier gave her a sympathetic look as she was ushered off towards the chopping block.

A priestess of Arkay began to give them their last rites and Lucia prayed silently to Talos as she did so. But the priestess was cut short when a stormcloak strode towards the block not wanting to put of his death any longer. When the axeman brought the axe down severing the stormcloak's neck Lucia brought her hands up to her own, as if that would keep her head on her shoulders.

Lucia was called forth and as she walked to the block her eyes stayed locked on the executioner. She was pushed onto her knees and her head was forced down onto the blood slicked block. Lucia shut her eyes trying to think of anything but the impending axe, to no avail. It was only when she heard a loud roar that she opened her eyes.

There was a massive dragon sitting on top of the keep. The entirety of Helgen went into a frenzy. Dragon had started setting fire the entire town. People were screaming, hiding, even some of the soldiers couldn't bring themselves to fight the beast. Lucia didn't know what to do. Her mind was screaming run fast but her legs refused to move. Ralof the stormcloak from the carriage grabbed her arm and dragged her into one of the stone buildings.

She collapsed on the ground coughing, trying to get the smoke out of her system. Ralof helped her take off her bindings and she nodded, 'Thanks.'

'Could that really have been a dragon? I thought they were just legends.' Ralof asked the room.

'Legends don't burn down buildings.' Ulfric said with such assurance as if he'd known this was going to happen all along.

'Okay I think we've established that was a dragon. But the real question is what in oblivion do we do now?' Lucia asked surprised at the calm tone to her voice. Her legs betrayed her though they were shaking so much it didn't make sense that she was able to stand.

'Come on up through the keep now!' Ralof ordered and she had no qualms in obliging. The sprinted up the stairs when suddenly Lucia heard something disconcerting. She stopped in her tracks feeling Ralof slam into her. 'What in Talos name are you doing woman? Why did you-' He was cut off buy the right wall just above them being knocked out by the dragon. It sent a large wall of flames through the hole, and even though she and Ralof weren't close to them, they could still feel heat from its searing flames. He looked at Lucia with thanks in his eyes and nodded for them to keep going up the stairs.

They came to a stop at the hole the dragon had left in the wall. 'What do we do now?' Lucia asked staring down at the chaos below them.

'You jump. Go on into that inn. It's not that far.' He said as if a seven-foot drop was nothing.

'Easy for you to say you're not the one scared of heights.' She muttered to herself. The woman took one more look at the inn trying to steady herself before she jumped. But when she realised that was futile she sucked in a deep breath and did it. Thanks to the years of battle training from her father she knew how to land, but even so when she felt her feet on the inns solid flooring she breathed a sigh of relief. Lucia had always hated heights. That was the easiest way to describe it, but it was more the whole idea of falling in the air with nothing to hold onto. She liked to have control over the things in her life, so of course when she was captured by the Empire she'd been on edge the entire time.

Assessing her surroundings, she couldn't see the dragon from where she was and took that as a sign to keep pressing forwards in her escape. When she saw the sympathetic imperial soldier she didn't know whether to run away from him or to him. She didn't have a weapon, he had two. So she went against her better judgement and ran towards him.

There was a split second where Lucia thought she was safe. That however was short lived when the dragon came swooping down breathing another wall of fire towards them. The soldier who seemed to think quickly on his feet grabbed Lucia's arm and dragged her back behind a destroyed house for safety. 'Still alive prisoner.' He said keeping an eye out for the dragon.

'Surprisingly yes.' Lucia coughed barely able to see him through the smoke that filled the air.

'Well stick with me if you want to stay that way.'

When he decided it was safe to progress Lucia followed him sticking as close as she could so she could avoid any threat until she got a weapon in her hands. They weren't far from the keep. So once the dragon had disappeared from their line of sight they ran straight for it not slowing until the door shut behind them.

They were in some kind of barracks and Lucia breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down on one of the beds. 'What was your name again prisoner?' The soldier asked while he rummaged through the chest for anything of use.

'Lucia.' She muttered pulling out her braid picking at the singed ends of her hair.

'I'm Hadvar. Here take this you're going to need it.' He asked handing her a sword.

When she held the sword in her hands she felt in control again. Like she might actually make it out of there alive. Lucia never usually strayed far from her weapons. They were the main thing that kept her grounded in the unstable country that Skyrim was. If she had been wearing armour she would've felt ready to concur the world, but there didn't seem to be any she could use.

Once the two of them had caught their breath and steadied themselves they decided to press on. Lucia stuck behind Hadvar again because she had no clue where they were going, but he seemed to and that made her feel a little more at ease. In front of her he stopped. 'Look. Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them.' They slowly walked into the occupied room but before Hadvar could even try to talk to the soldiers they started to attack.

Lucia hadn't been ready for that even though she'd suspected that their crossing would end in many fights. Obviously the whole dragon destroying the town situation didn't mean imperials and stormcloaks could work together for even a second.

The smaller female soldier came at Lucia with great speed, axe aiming directly for her. Lucia was expecting that though so she dodged the first swing with ease. It was when the solider came back around, that was what threw Lucia off. The axe sliced into her forearm. She let out a cry of pain, which soon turned into a battle cry. Lucia started to swing her sword as fast and hard as she could, blocking the stormcloak's heavy handed axe attacks. She knew she wasn't going to get a hit in while the woman was towering over her. So, she kicked the woman in the side of the legs as hard as she could, causing the soldier to fall to her knees. Then in one fluid swing Lucia brought her sword down across the stormcloaks stomach. A strangled gasp came from her when the sword sliced through the skin and scorched armour she wore. Blood was pouring out of the wounded soldier and onto Lucia's boots but in that moment she didn't care. Right now she was fighting for her life. And if anyone tried to stop her from escaping she would make sure they would all meet the same fate as this one soldier.


End file.
